Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer is swapping his business suit for a race suit.

Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer is swapping his business suit for a race suit as he lines up alongside three fellow drivers to campaign a V8 Vantage GT4 in the forthcoming Dunlop Britcar 24hr Race, held at the world-famous Silverstone Circuit.

In what will be his first competitive outing at the wheel of one of the luxury sports car firm’s own track cars, Dr Palmer will be teaming up with Aston Martin Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman; experienced British motoring journalist Andrew Frankel and aspiring 22-year-old racer Alice Powell to tackle the gruelling 24-hour endurance event later this month.

Dr Palmer said: “As the CEO of a sports car company with such an impressive racing heritage, I have of course been itching to get behind the wheel of one of our race cars.

“I’ve done some GT4 racing in the past but this will be my first attempt at a 24-hour event. I don’t underestimate the challenge, but the Vantage GT4 has a superb record in long distance racing and I know I’ve got a great team alongside me. I’ll obviously be careful, too, not to deliberately outshine my more qualified teammates!”

The team car, a V8 Vantage GT4 N430, will run in the livery of one of the brand’s technology partners, Castrol, with further support from long-term partner Immun’age. Both partners continue to offer vital backing to the brand’s race programme, allowing us to enter both the Dunlop Britcar 24hr Race and the famous ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hours later this year.  

Alongside his fellow racers, Dr Palmer has been honing his track skills with Aston Martin Racing star driver Darren Turner at his Base Performance Simulators facility in Banbury, as well as taking opportunities to test the GT4 on track.

His teammates bring significant race experience to the event. Marek Reichman successfully campaigned a Vantage in the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge series in 2011 and is an experienced historic sports car racer, while well-known auto journalist Andrew Frankel has also been racing cars for more than 20 years. With an emphasis on vintage machines, he has raced at all the major historic meetings in Europe including the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival and Spa Six Hours. He has raced modern cars throughout, too, and has so far competed in four Silverstone 24hrs races, finishing every one.

Meanwhile, Alice Powell started karting when she was eight years old and has been a motorsport fan all her life. At 22, she has already had some stand out career highlights which include becoming the first female to win the Formula Renault BARC UK Championship. She is the first and only female to score points in the GP3 Series and was crowned champion in the Formula Renault Asia Championship last year.

The 24hr race, to be staged at Silverstone on the weekend of April 23-26 as part of the 2015 Britcar Trophy Championship meeting, makes a welcome return to the UK motorsport calendar after a two-year absence.

Bentley announces it's 2015 race program, with a huge filed of events, this year is going to be great.

• Continental GT3 race programme expands around the world
• Works, Works-supported and customer teams for 2015
• Bentley Team M-Sport confirms 2015 driver line-up
• First race of the season will be the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour

Bentley Motorsport announces its full schedule of races around the world for 2015 after a successful debut season for the racing version of Bentley’s iconic Continental GT grand tourer, the Continental GT3. Building on the success of the 2014 season, which saw the Continental GT3 win three races on two continents and finish second overall in the Blancpain Endurance Series, for 2015 the programme expands to cover six race series over four continents.

Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, comments:

“2015 promises to be a very exciting year for Bentley Motorsport, as we grow our programme through customer teams to see the Continental GT3 facing fresh challenges at new tracks across the globe. This year will see the most extensive campaign of racing in Bentley’s illustrious history, as we continue to use the Continental GT to build on our racing heritage. Racing is in our blood, and with the Continental GT3 we continue to build on a winning tradition. Bentley customers are now going racing with their marque, in a Bentley, in race series around the world.”

2015 sees the brand’s Works team, Bentley Team M-Sport, return to the Blancpain Endurance Series. In addition, Bentley is also taking on three of the world’s premiere sports car endurance events. The Bentley Motorsport season will begin with the two Continental GT3s of Bentley Team M-Sport tackling Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 Hour on Sunday 8^th February. 

Later in the year, Bentley will also enter arguably the world’s most gruelling endurance race – the ADAC Zurich 24h Race at the Nürburgring – an event for which preparations began earlier in 2014 when Bentley took part in two VLN series test races. The year will close with one final endurance race, the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Alongside the Works team, Bentley announces additional partner teams to race the Continental GT3 in key regions, as Works-supported entries:

• Following a race-winning half-season in 2014, Bentley Team Dyson Racing will contest the full Pirelli World Challenge season in the U.S.A.
• In Europe, Bentley Team HTP will use five Continental GT3s to race in the Blancpain Sprint Series, Blancpain Endurance Series and ADAC GT Masters championship
• In Asia, Bentley Team Absolute will compete in the GT Asia series

The Works and Works-supported teams are complemented by customer teams, who will extend the racing activities of the Continental GT3 even further, including events such as the Dubai 24 Hours and the Australian GT series. Bentley’s customer racers have already had success with the Continental GT3, including a win in the NGK Racing Series in Dubai.

The 2015 Bentley Boys

Bentley Team M-Sport also announces its driver line-up for the 2015 season. After scoring victories at Silverstone and Paul Ricard, and finishing second in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2014, car #7 retains the all-British trio of Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane. The three Bentley Boys are looking forward to a second complete season with the team, and to working together again. Andy Meyrick comments:

“It was an honour to race for Bentley last year and I’m thrilled that Guy, Steven and I will be together again in the Continental GT3 this year. 2014 was the car’s debut season and so second place in the championship was a real achievement, but that clearly leaves us room to go one better and that’s our target for the Continental GT3 this year.”

Car #8 sees an all-new and truly European team of drivers for 2015. Joining Bentley Team M-Sport are Spanish racer Andy Soucek, German GT3-specialist Maximilian Buhk and Belgian Maxime Soulet. All three have raced in the Blancpain Endurance Series before, showing prodigious speed and racecraft and making them natural choices to join Bentley Motorsport for 2015. New Bentley Boy Andy Soucek comments:

“It feels fantastic to join Bentley, a company with such a long and prestigious connection with motorsport. Racing for this team will be very special to me and I’m excited to take on the challenge. I drove the Continental GT3 for the first time at Portimao recently, and was really impressed with its performance. I’m looking forward to getting the season underway.”

Bentley’s progress throughout the season can be followed at www.bentleymedia.com or via the@BentleyComms Twitter feed.

2015 Race Schedules in Full

Premiere Endurance Events:

Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, 6^th-8^th February

ADAC Zurich 24h Race, Nürburgring, 16^th-17^th May

Gulf 12 Hours, Abu Dhabi, 13^th December

Blancpain Endurance Series (Bentley Team M-Sport, Bentley Team HTP):

Monza, Italy: 11th-12th April

Silverstone, UK: 23^rd-24^th May

Paul Ricard, France: 19^th-20^th June

Spa 24 Hours, Belgium: 23^th-26^th July

Nürburgring, Germany: 19^th-20^th September

Blancpain Sprint Series (Bentley Team HTP):

Nogaro Coupes de Pâques, France: 18th-19th March

Brands Hatch, UK: 9^th-10^th May

Zolder, Belgium: 5^th-7^th June

Moscow City, Russia: 3^rd-5^th July

Algarve, Portugal: 4^th-6^th September

Misano, Italy: 2^nd-4^th October

Baku World Challenge, Azerbaijan: 24^th-25^th October

ADAC GT Masters (Bentley Team HTP):

Oschersleben, Germany: 24th-26th April

Red Bull Ring, Austria: 5^th-7^th June

Spa, Belgium: 19^th-21^st June

Lausitzring, Germany: 3^rd-5^th July

Nürburgring, Germany: 14^th-16^th August

Sachsenring, Germany: 28^th-30^th August

Zandvoort, Netherlands: 18^th-20^th September

Hockenheim, Germany: 2^nd-4^th October

Pirelli World Challenge (Bentley Team Dyson Racing):

Circuit of the Americas, Texas: 6th-8th March

St. Petersburg, Florida: 27^th-29^th March

Long Beach, California: 17^th-19^th April

Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama: 24-26^th April

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Ontario: 15^th-17^th May

Road America, Wisconsin: 26^th-28^th June

Mid-Ohio, Ohio: 31^st July-2^nd August

Miller Motorsports Park, Utah: 21^st-23^rd August

Sonoma Raceway, California: 28^th-30^th August

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California: 11^th-13^th September

GT Asia (Bentley Team Absolute)

Yeongam, Korea: 15th-17th May

Okayama, Japan: 26^th-28^th June

Fuji, Japan: 17^th-19^th July

Sepang, Malaysia: 14^th-16^th August

Shanghai, China: 25^th-27^th September

Buriram Chang, Thailand: 23^rd-25^th October

Macau: 13^th-15^th November

Honda racing completes pre season testing.

The Honda Racing team has completed its final pre-season test at Magny Cours in France in preparation for the 2014 Endurance World Championship, which begins with the Bol d’Or 24-hour at the same circuit in just over three weeks time (26/27 April).

The team was blessed with warm and dry weather during the two-day event, giving the all-new rider line-up of EWC experts, Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastien Gimbert, plus reserve rider Jason O’Halloran, plenty of time to get to grips with the 2014 Honda Racing CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine.  

With a full schedule of 9am to 5pm track time and 450 laps completed, the team was able to work on fuel strategy and tyre selection, as well as finding a good set-up to suit all riders and achieving consistency in lap times. The Magny Cours test completes an extensive pre-season programme that has seen the Honda Racing team travel to Mireval, Albacete, Aragon and Cartagena as it steps up its EWC campaign in a bid to secure the 2014 title.  

Julien Da Costa
I feel very good after this test. I was saying to Neil earlier, I feel so at home on the bike already.It is speaking to me like we are a couple – we are like a man and a woman! The bike is veryeasy to ride and we have made a lot of improvements throughout the testing programme. Wehave a very good basic set-up and we’ve done a lot of fuel and tyre testing. Now we are able tolook forward to the race and we can use the practice sessions during the Bol d’Or week to focuson getting the set-up right for the conditions. We can definitely say that we have all done a goodjob!  

 

Freddy Foray
I think we have done a good job over the last few weeks. The bike has been great from day one and the feeling has improved day by day. The lap times of all the riders are consistent with each other, which is very important for endurance racing. It is difficult to make a plan for the first race because it’s 24-hours, but we have a good foundation and if we can improve even more during the week before the race, I think we have a good chance.

 

Sebastien Gimbert
My feeling after the testing is good because our lap times are consistent with each other and the bike is going very well. I’m really happy because the whole team has worked really hard to give us a good bike. We’ve done a lot of testing and now I’m looking forward to the season beginning. I want to push for the race – we’re ready.